Out in the Rain
by Dr. Abby Kovac
Summary: Set just before S12. Abby's mother comes to visit.


_Disclaimer: Of course I don't own them… if I did, what the hell would I be doing writing a story about them?_

_AN:Wooo. First ER story. May turn into more than one chapter. But I only wrote this because I had to for school. So if anyone wants it to be longer, just say so in your reviews… but I still can't promise that it will turn into anything more._

_Constructive criticism welcome. Very welcome, in fact._

_Spoilers: Minor 'Rescue Me'_

"So, Maggie's coming down from Minnesota this weekend," Abby Lockhart groaned, standing at the admit desk with a patient chart.

"You sound quite excited about it," Luka replied sarcastically, not very enthusiastic about the unexpected trip either. He remembered the last time Abby's mother had graced County General Hospital's ER in Chicago with her all but normal presence. It had not gone well. He knew how hard it was for Abby to live with a bi-polar mother when she was younger, and he knew she still found it hard to handle. Abby put down her chart.  
"Yeah, well, I'm not. I just get the feeling that she's going to be off her meds and start complete chaos like she did when she was here last time," she stated. "And I know I can't stop her from coming, because once she has her mind set on something…"

"…She will go through with it no matter what," Luka finished. "I know."

"I just wish I had a normal mother…" Abby trailed off, staring into space. "Well, I have to go check on my wheezer guy in curtain two. It's going to be a blast."

"I'll bet," Luka replied with a laugh. "See you after shift."

"Yeah." Abby turned, grabbed her chart for the asthmatic patient in curtain two and walked down the corridor briskly.

"When's your mother going to be in?" Luka asked Abby later the next day. He was sincerely hoping to get out of the hospital before she arrived, but he could never be sure if we would.

"Not sure; the bus comes in at about 4:30 and she just said she'll take a cab here," Abby informed Luka. She smiled, "We'll probably head over to Doc Magoo's on my break for something to eat later, once she gets here. You're welcome to join us."

"No, that's all right," he smirked. "I wouldn't want to intrude on a once-in-a-lifetime mother-daughter reconciliation." Abby's smile turned into a small outburst of laughter.

"If anything, you would want to see that, if it were to ever happen," Abby replied. "Come on, I'll pay." Luka considered the thought for a moment, but decided against it.

"No, I think I'll just go home." She shrugged.

"Suit yourself."

Later in the day, Abby was tapping her fingers impatiently at the admit desk, wondering when (if ever) her mother would show up. It was well past 5:00, and if Maggie was off her meds, only God knows where she might have got to. It reminded Abby of when she was a little girl, never knowing what to expect when it came to Maggie. Finally, after waiting too long, she gave in to the callings of her patients and went back to work.

Even later into the dayshift at ER, Susan Lewis was standing at the admit desk, waiting for a call on an incoming patient. She stood, leaning against the desk with her arm bent in the air, twiddling a pen within her fingers dully.

"Bored out of your mind?" Luka asked her as he walked over to her, shuffling through leftover patient charts on the desk waiting to be signed off.

"Oh, no way. Can't you tell I'm busy?" Susan replied, sarcasm dripping from her words. She stopped playing with her pen at the sound of the automatic doors opening to her right. She looked over and saw a drenched, frazzled-looking Maggie Wyczenski stumbling through the doors. "Hey, Kovac? Go find Abby while I take care of this…"

Luka was sure that Susan knew full well what condition Abby's mother had. If Maggie wouldn't cooperate, Susan would have to get some doctors together to help restrain Maggie to a gurney, and then, if absolutely necessary, she would give her five milligrams of haloperidol to help her calm down. In any case, he figured it would be better for both him and Abby to be there helping, one reason being the lack of doctors around due to the low amount of patients coming in, and Abby would most likely know the most about her mother's condition.

Walking down the corridors and looking through the exam room windows, Luka thought it would be better if he just paged Abby instead. He reached the doctor's lounge, his last stop before giving up and paging her, and opened the door to find Abby sitting on the couch reading a magazine. "Abby," Luka said gently.

"Yeah?" she replied without looking up.

"Your mother's here," Luka stated hesitantly. That caused Abby to look up at him cautiously. The look on his face told all.

"She's gone off her meds again, hasn't she?" Suddenly Luka wished it was him out in the admit area strapping Maggie to a gurney.

"We don't know for sure," he supplied, "but by the looks of it…" Abby's facial expression changed from soft and hopeful to something he had never seen on her before. It was that of both sadness and anger, and before he could stop her, she stormed out of the room like a tornado wreaking havoc in its path.

"Mom," Abby called, walking up to the admittance desk. "Mom!" Maggie turned to face Abby as she was looking towards Susan behind the desk.

"Oh, Abby!" Maggie cried, pulling Abby into a tight embrace. "Abby, I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Mom…" Abby said uncertainly. "How are you? Is everything okay?" Maggie let go of her and smiled.

"Everything's fine! Why wouldn't it be?" she ranted. "Do you not trust me to look after myself?" Abby crossed her arms, feeling slightly nervous.

"Let's go talk outside, all right?" She turned and walked out into the ambulance bay, not looking behind her to see if her mother followed. The rain was still falling from the night sky continuously and hitting hard against the pavement, but Abby didn't care. It seemed to suit her mood.

"You're off your meds again." she accused. "Don't try to lie to me, Maggie. I know exactly how you should be acting if you were on them, and this is not right."

"You can't accuse me of something you don't know!" Maggie argued manically.

"Oh, please. I've watched you like this since I was a kid. One minute you would be all cheerful and happy and the next you would be so angry that you would chase me around the house with a knife!" Abby slicked her hair back with the wetness from the rain. "Or maybe you would go running down our street naked, screaming your head off because you wouldn't do anything to help yourself."

"Abby, I'm not just a disease! It wasn't easy for me; I didn't choose to be sick!" Abby scoffed at her mother's disregard for her brutal parenting skills.

"You never tried to get better!"

"I can't change what happened."

"You can't! That's right! So now you're going to make up for that, and you are going to go inside that hospital and take your medication. And you will stay in hospitalization until you can take care of yourself properly, and you WILL take care of yourself. I am not going to come up to Minnesota just to baby sit you." She grabbed Maggie's shoulders and jerked her closer to her. "If you don't do this right now, you never will, because I won't be there and willing to help you. Now go back inside, before you catch a cold and make this worse." Maggie nodded in defeat, with a small smile on her face. She didn't say anything else, as she was afraid she would admit to not being able to do it. She admired her daughter for her integrity and confidence in her. With that, she turned and headed back into the ER, all manic thoughts aside, leaving Abby standing alone underneath a dark, gloomy sky.


End file.
